THE GRAMMAR OF VERSE, OR PROSODY.

1. Verse is the form of poetry; and Prosody is the part of Grammar which deals with the laws and nature of verse.

(i) Verse comes from the Latin versa, turned. Oratio versa was “turned speech”—that is, when the line came to an end, the reader or writer or printer had to begin a new line. It is opposed to oratio prorsa, which means “straight-on speech”—whence our word prose. A line in prose may be of any length; a line in verse must be of the length which the poet gives to it.

(ii) It is of importance for us to become acquainted with the laws of verse. First, because it enables us to enjoy poetry more. Secondly, it enables us to read poetry better—and to avoid putting an emphasis on a syllable, merely because it is accented. Thirdly, it shows us how to write verse; and the writing of verse is very good practice in composition—as it compels us to choose the right phrase, and makes us draw upon our store of words to substitute and to improve here or there.

2. Verse differs from prose in two things: (i) in the regular recurrence of accents; and (ii) in the proportion of unaccented to accented syllables.

(i) Thus, in the line

In an´swer nought´ could An´gus speak´,

the accent occurs regularly in every second syllable.

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(ii) But, in the line

Mer´rily, mer´rily, shall´ we live now´,

the accent not only comes first, but there are two unaccented syllables for every one that is accented (except in the last foot).

3. Every English word of more than one syllable has an accent on one of its syllables.

(i) Begin´, commend´, attack´ have the accent on the last syllable.

(ii) Hap´py, la´dy, wel´come have the accent on the first syllable.

4. English verse is made up of lines; each line of verse contains a fixed number of accents; each accent has a fixed number of unaccented syllables attached to it.

(i) Let us take these lines from ‘Marmion’ (canto v.):—

Who loves´ | not more´ | the night´ | of June´
Than dull´ | Decem´ | ber’s gloom´ | of noon´?

Each line here contains four accents; the accented syllable comes last; each accented syllable has one unaccented attached to it.

(ii) Now let us compare these lines from T. Hood’s “Bridge of Sighs”:

Touch´ her not | scorn´fully,
Think´ of her | mourn´fully.

Each line here contains two accents; the accented syllable comes first; and each accented syllable has two unaccented syllables attached to it.

5. One accented syllable + one or two unaccented, taken together, is called a foot. A foot is the unit of a metre.

Let x stand for an unaccented, and a for an accented syllable.

6. One accented preceded by one unaccented syllable is called an Iambus. Its formula is xa.—One accented syllable followed by one unaccented is called a Trochee. Its formula is ax.

(i) The following are iambuses: Perhaps´; condemn´; compel´; without´; career´.

(ii) The following are trochees: Gen´tle; riv´er; la´dy; ra´ven; tum´ble.

(iii) The following verse is made up of four iambuses—that is, it is iambic verse:—

’Twere long´, | and need´ | less, here´ | to tell´
 How to my hand these papers fell.

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(iv) The following verse is made up of four trochees—that is, it is trochaic:—

In´ his | cham´ber, | weak´ and | dy´ing
Was the Norman baron lying.

(v) Iam´ | bics march´ | from short´ | to long´.

(vi) Tro´chee | trips´ from | long´ to | short´— |.

7. One accented syllable preceded by two unaccented is called an Anapæst. Its formula is xxa.—One accented syllable followed by two unaccented is called a Dactyl. Its formula is axx.

(i) The following are anapæsts: Serenade´; disappear´; comprehend´; intercede´.

(ii) The following are dactyls: Hap´pily; mer´rily; sim´ilar; bil´lowy.

(iii) The following lines are in anapæstic verse:—

I am mon´ | arch of all´ | I survey´,
     My right there is none to dispute.

(iv) With a leap´ | and a bound´ | the swift an´ | apæsts throng´ |.

(v) The following are in dactylic verse:—

Can´non to | right´ of them |
Can´non to | left´ of them |.

(a) The word dactyl comes from the Greek daktŭlos, a finger. For a finger has one long and two short joints.

(b) The word anapæst comes from two Greek words: paio, I strike, and ana, back; because it is the reverse of a dactyl.

8. The Anapæst belongs to the same kind or system of verse as the Iambus; because the accented syllable in each comes last.—The Dactyl belongs to the same kind or system of verse as the Trochee; because the accented syllable in each comes first.

(i) Hence anapæsts and iambuses may be mixed (as in “My right´ | there is none´ | to dispute´ | ”); and so may dactyls and trochees (as in “Hark´ to the | sum´mons | ”).

(ii) But we very seldom see a trochee introduced into an iambic line; or an iambus into a trochaic.

9. An accented syllable with one unaccented syllable on each side of it is called an Amphibrach. Its formula is xax.

The word amphibrach comes from two Greek words: amphi, on both sides; and brachus, short. (Compare amphibious.)

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(i) The following are amphibrachs: Despair´ing; almight´y; tremend´ous; deceit´ful.

(ii) The following is an amphibrachic line:—

There came´ to | the beach´ a | poor ex´ile | of E´rin |.

10. A verse made up of iambuses is called Iambic Verse; of trochees, Trochaic; of anapæsts, Anapæstic; and of dactyls, Dactylic.

11. A verse of three feet is called Trimĕter; of four feet, Tetrameter; of five feet, Pentameter; and of six feet, Hexameter.

(i) We find the prefixes of these words in Triangle; Tetrarch (a ruler over a fourth part); Pentateuch (the five books of Moses); and Hexagon (a figure with six corners or angles).

12. By much the most usual kind of verse in English is Iambic Verse.

(i) Iambic Tetrameter (4xa) is the metre of most of Scott’s poems; of Coventry Patmore’s “Angel in the House”; of Gay’s Fables, and many other poems of the eighteenth century.

(ii) Iambic Pentameter (5xa) is the most common line in English verse. There are probably more than a thousand iambic pentameter lines for one that there exists of any other kind. Iambic Pentameter is the verse of Chaucer, of Shakespeare, of Milton, of Dryden, of Pope, and of almost all our greater English poets.

13. Rhymed Iambic Pentameter is called Heroic Verse; unrhymed, it is called Blank Verse.

(i) Any unrhymed verse may be called blank—such as the verse employed by Longfellow in his “Hiawatha”—but the term is usually restricted to the unrhymed iambic pentameter.

(ii) Blank verse is the noblest of all verse. It seems the easiest to write; it is the most difficult. It is the verse of Shakespeare and Milton, and most of our great dramatists.

14. Iambic Trimeter consists of three iambuses; and its formula is 3xa.

The king´ | was on´ | his throne´; |
His sa´ | traps thronged´ | the hall´; |
A thou´ | sand bright´ | lamps shone´ |
On that´ | high fes´ | tival´. |

There is very little of this kind of verse in English.

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15. Iambic Tetrameter consists of four iambuses; and its formula is 4xa.

The fire,´ | with well´ | dried logs´ | supplied,´ |
Went roar´ | ing up´ | the chim´ | ney wide´; |
The huge´ | hall-ta´ | ble’s oak´ | en face´ |
Scrubbed till´ | it shone,´ | the day´ | to grace.´ |

There is a good deal of this verse in English; and most of it is by Scott.

16. Iambic Tetrameter with Iambic Trimeter in alternate lines—the second and fourth rhyming—is called Ballad Metre. When used, as it often is, in hymns, it is called Service Metre.

They set him high upon a cart; = 4xa
    The hangman rode below; = 3xa
They drew his hands behind his back, = 4xa
    And bared his noble brow. = 3xa

This is the metre of Macaulay’s ‘Lays of Ancient Rome,’ of Scott’s ‘Lay of the Last Minstrel,’ and many other poems. Scott mixes frequently, but at quite irregular intervals, the iambic trimeter with the iambic tetrameter; and this he called the “light-horse gallop of verse.”

Front, flank, and rear, the squadrons sweep = 4xa
To break the Scottish circle deep, = 4xa
        That fought´ | around´ | their king.´ = 3xa

17. Iambic Pentameter consists of five iambuses; and its formula is 5xa.

(i) The following is rhymed iambic pentameter:—

True wit´ | is na´ | ture to´ | advan´ | tage dressed,´ | = 5xa
What oft´ | was thought,´ | but ne’er´ | so well´ | expressed.´ = | 5xa

(ii) The following is unrhymed iambic pentameter:—

You all´ | do know´ | this man´ | tle; I´ | remem´ | ber = | 5xa
The first´ | time ev´ | er Cæs´ | ar put´ | it on´. | = 5xa.

The first extract is from Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”; the second from Shakespeare’s “Julius Cæsar.”

18. Iambic Hexameter consists of six iambuses; and its formula is 6xa.

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(i) The following is from Drayton’s “Polyolbion”:—

Upon the Midlands now the industrious muse doth fall, | = 6xa
That shire which we the heart of England well may call. | = 6xa

The objection to this kind of verse is its intolerable monotony. It pretends to be hexameter; but it is indeed simply two trimeter verses printed in one long line. The monotony comes from the fact that the pause is always in the middle of the line. There is very little of this kind of verse in English. The line of 6xa is also called an Alexandrine, and is used to close the long stanza employed by Spenser.

19. Trochaic Tetrameter consists of four trochees; and its formula is 4ax.

(i) The following is rhymed trochaic tetrameter:—

                        When the heathen trumpet’s clang – | = 4ax
                        Round beleaguered Chester rang, – | = 4ax
                        Veilëd nun and friar gray – | = 4ax
                        Marched from Bangor’s fair abbaye – | = 4ax

It will be noticed that each line has a syllable wanting to make up the four complete feet. But the missing syllable is only an unaccented syllable; and the line contains four accents. (The above extract is from “The Monks of Bangor’s March,” by Scott.)

(ii) The following is unrhymed trochaic tetrameter:—

Then the | little | Hia | watha | = 4ax
Learned of | ev’ry | bird the | language, | = 4ax
Learned their | names and | all their | secrets, | 4ax
How they | built their | nests in | summer, | = 4ax
Where they | hid them | selves in | winter, | = 4ax
Talked with | them when | e’er he | met them, | = 4ax
Called them | “Hia | watha’s | Chickens.” | = 4ax

It will be observed that, in the above lines from Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” each trochee is complete; and this is the case throughout the whole of this poem. “Hiawatha” is the only long poem in the language that is written in unrhymed trochees.

20. Trochaic Octometer consists of eight trochees; and its formula is 8ax.

(i) The chief example of it that we have is Tennyson’s poem of “Locksley Hall”:—

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Com´rades, | leave´ me | here´ a | lit´tle, | while´ as | yet´ ’tis | ear´ly | morn´ – | = 8ax
Leave´ me | here´, and, | when´ you | want´ me | sound´ up | on´ the | bu´gle | horn’ – | = 8ax

(ii) There is a syllable wanting in each line of “Locksley Hall”; but it is only an unaccented syllable. Each line consists of eight accents.

21. Anapæstic Tetrameter consists of four anapæsts; and its formula is 4xxa.

(i) There is very little anapæstic verse in English; and what little there exists is written in tetrameter.

(ii) The following lines, from “Macgregors’ Gathering,” by Scott, is in anapæstic verse:—

The moon’s´ | on the lake´, | and the mist’s´ | on the brae´, | = 4xxa
And the clan´ | has a name´ | that is name´ | less by day´. | = 4xxa

(iii) It will be observed that the first line begins with an iambus. This is admissible; because an iambus and an anapæst, both having the accented syllable last, belong to the same system.

22. Dactylic Dimeter consists of two dactyls; and its formula is 2axx.

(i) A well-known example is Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade.”

Can´non to | right´ of them, | 2axx
Can´non to | left´ of them, | 2axx
Can´non be | hind´ them, – | 2axx
Vol´leyed and | thun´dered. – | 2axx

(ii) It will be observed that the last two lines want a syllable to make up the two dactyls. Such a line is said to be = 2axx – (minus).

(iii) Or we may say that the last foot is a trochee; for a trochee and a dactyl can go together in one line, both belonging to the same system—both having their accented syllable first.

23. Dactylic Tetrameter consists of dactyls; and its formula is 4axx.

(i) Bishop’s Heber’s hymn is one of the best examples:—

Bright´est and | best´ of the | sons´ of the | morn´ing.

(ii) The last foot here again is a trochee.

(iii) There is very little of this kind of verse in English poetry.

24. Amphibrachic Tetrameter consists of four amphibrachs; and its formula is 4xax.

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(i) Campbell’s well-known poem is a good example:—

There came´ to | the beach´ a | poor ex´ile | of E´rin.

(ii) There are very few examples in English of this kind of verse.

25. The following lines by Coleridge give both examples and descriptions of the most important metres explained in the preceding paragraphs. It must be observed that Coleridge uses the term long for accented; and short for unaccented syllables:—

Tro´chee | trips´ from | long´ to | short´— |
From long to long in solemn sort,
Slow spon | dee [1] stalks || strong´ foot, yet | ill´ able
E´ver to | come´ up with | dac´tyl tri | syl´lable | .
Iam´ | bics march´ | from sho´rt | to long´ | ;
With a leap´ | and a bound´ | the swift an´ | apæsts throng´ | ;
One syl´la | ble long´ with | one short´ at | each side— |
Amphi´brach | ys hastes´ with | a state´ly | stride.

26.  A verse with a syllable over and above the number of feet of which it consists is called Hypermetrical.

(i) Thus, Coleridge has, in his “Ancient Mariner”—

Day af | ter day, | day af | ter day, |
   We stuck: | nor breath | nor mo | tion, (hyper)
As id | le as | a paint | ed ship |
   Upon | a paint | ed o | cean. (hyper)

Here the syllables tion and cean are over from the iambic trimeter verse, and the line is therefore said to be hypermetrical.

27. A verse with a syllable wanting to the number of feet of which it consists is said to be defective.

(i) Thus, in Scott’s “Monks of Bangor”—

Slaugh´tered | down´ by | heath´en | blade´– | 4ax-
Ban´gor’s | peace´ful | monks´ are | laid´.– | 4ax-

we find a syllable wanting to each line. But that syllable is an unaccented one; and the verse consists of four trochees minus one syllable, or 4ax-.

(ii) Caution!—Some persons confuse the defective with the hypermetrical line. Thus, in the verses—

Shall´ I | was´ting | in´ de | spair´, – |
Die´ be | cause a | wom´an’s | fair´? – |

the syllable spair is not hypermetrical. An unaccented syllable is wanting to it; and the lines are 4ax defective or minus.

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RHYME.

28. Rhyme has been defined by Milton as the “jingling sound of like endings.” It may also be defined as a correspondence in sound at the ends of lines in poetry.

(i) Rhyme is properly spelled rime. The word originally meant number; and the Old English word for arithmetic was rime-craft. It received its present set of letters from a confusion with the Greek word rhythm, which means a flowing.

(ii) Professor Skeat says “it is one of the worst-spelt words in the language.” “It is,” he says, “impossible to find an instance of spelling rhyme before 1550.” Shakespeare generally wrote rime.

29. No rhyme can be good unless it satisfies four conditions. These are:—

1. The rhyming syllable must be accented. Thus ring´ rhymes with sing´; but not with think´ing.

2. The vowel sound must be the same—to the ear, that is; though not necessarily to the eye. Thus lose and close are not good rhymes.

3. The final consonant must be the same. (Mix and tricks are good rhymes; because x = ks.)

4. The preceding consonant must be different.

Beat and feet; jump and bump are good rhymes.

30. The English language is very poor in rhymes, when compared wth Italian or German. Accordingly, half-rhymes are admissible, and are frequently employed.

The following rhymes may be used:—

Sun.                 Love.               Allow.              Ever.                Taste.

Gone.               Move.              Bestow.            River.               Past.

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THE CÆSURA.

31. The rhythm or musical flow of verse depends on the varied succession of phrases of different lengths. But, most of all, it is upon the Cæsura, and the position of the Cæsura, that musical flow depends.

The word cæsura is a Latin word, and means a cutting.

32. The Cæsura in a line is the rest or halt or break or pause for the voice in reading aloud. It is found in short as well as in long lines.

(i) The following is an example from the short lines of ‘Marmion’ (vi. 332):—

1½ More pleased that || in a barbarous age
2½ He gave rude Scotland || Virgil’s page,
1        Than || that beneath his rule he held
2        The bishopric || of fair Dunkeld.

It will be seen from this that Sir Walter Scott takes care to vary the position of the cæsura in each line—sometimes having it after 1½ feet, sometimes after 2; and so on.

(ii) The following is an example from the long lines of the “Lycidas” of Milton:—

2    Now, Lycidas, || the shepherds weep no more;
1    Henceforth || thou art the genius of the shore
3    In thy large recompense, || and shalt be good
2½ To all that wander || in that perilous flood.

Milton, too, is careful to vary the position of his cæsura; and most of the music and much of the beauty of his blank verse depend upon the fact that the cæsura appears now at the beginning, now at the middle, now and the end of his lines; and never in the same place in two consecutive verses.

(iii) Of all the great writers of English verse, Pope is the one who places the cæsura worst—worst, because it is almost always in the same place. Let us take an example from his “Rape of the Lock” (canto i.):—

2    The busy sylphs          || surround their darling care,
2    These set the head,     || and these divide the hair;
2    Some fold the sleeve,  || whilst others plait the gown;
2    And Betty’s praised    || for labours not her own.

And so he goes on for thousands upon thousands of verses. The symbol of Pope’s cæsura is a straight line; the symbol of Milton’s is “the line of beauty”—a line of perpetually varying and harmonious curves.

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THE STANZA.

33.  A Stanza is a group of rhymed lines.

The word comes from an old Italian word, stantia, an abode.

34. Two rhymed lines are called a couplet; and this may be looked upon as the shortest kind of stanza.

(i) The most usual couplet in English consists of two rhymed iambic pentameter lines. This is called the “heroric couplet.”

35.  A stanza of three rhymed lines is called a triplet.

(i) A very good example is to be found in Tennyson’s poem of “The Two Voices,” which consists entirely of triplets:—

“Whatever crazy sorrow saith,
No life that breathes with human breath
Has ever truly longed for death.”

36. A stanza of four rhymed lines—of which the first (sometimes) rhymes with the third, and the second (always) with the fourth—is called a quatrain.

(i) The ordinary ballad metre consists of quatrains—that is, four lines, two of iambic tetrameter, and two of iambic trimeter.

(ii) A quatrain of iambic pentameters is called Elegiac Verse. The best known example is Gray’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard.”

37. A stanza of six lines is called a sextant.

(i) There are many kinds. One is used in Hood’s “Dream of Eugene Aram,” which is written in 4xa and 3xa; the second, fourth, and sixth lines rhyming.

(ii) Another in Whittier’s “Barclay of Ury,” which has the first and second lines, the third and sixth, the fourth and fifth, rhyming with each other.

(iii) Another in Lowell’s “Yussouf,” which has the first and third lines, the second and fourth, and the fifth and sixth rhyming.

38. A stanza of eight lines is called an octave, or ottava rima.

(Pronounced ottahva reema.)

39. A stanza of nine lines is called the Spenserian stanza, because Edmund Spenser employed it in his “Faerie Queene.”

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(i) The first eight lines of this stanza are in 5xa; the last line, in 6xz.

(ii) The rhymes run thus: abab; bcbcc.

40. A short poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines—with the rhymes arranged in a peculiar way—is called a sonnet.

(i) This is a form which has been imported into England from Italy, where it was cultivated by many poets—the greatest among these being Dante and Petrarch, both of them poets of the thirteenth century. The best English sonnet-writers are Milton, Wordsworth, and Mrs Browning.

(ii) The sonnet consists of two parts—an octave (of eight lines), and a sestette (of six). The rhymes in the octave are often varied, being sometimes abba, acca: those in the sestette are sometimes abc, abc; or ababcc.

(iii) Shakespeare’s “Sonnets” are not formed on the Italian model, and can hardly be called sonnets at all. They are really short poems of three quatrains, ending in each case with a rhymed couplet.

(iv) The following is Wordsworth’s sonnet on “The Sonnet”:—

[1] A spondee consists of two long or accented syllables. It is a foot not employed in English; but it exists in the two words amen and farewell.

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